You Are Not Alone
by Mistress of the Arts
Summary: Being alone is all she's ever known. Living for him is all she's ever done. How can one feel so alone with someone like him right beside her? -Oneshot. AU. Max/OC-


Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade.

You Are (Not) Alone

She sat alone in her room, blinds drawn; lights dimmed low, not a sound echoing through the still air. Her breath trembled, her thin arms hugging her knees tighter to her chest, as if she was making a cocoon around herself. Her hair hung around her face, in thick curtains that shielded the tears from the eyes of the only person who could see her through the concrete walls.

Alone.

Even when around others, she always felt alone. Always felt scared and judged, just because she wasn't normal by society's standards. She never could fit in, even if she wanted to.

The worst part is she couldn't even fit in when it came to God as well. She wasn't like His other children. She loved Him all the same, but her views and beliefs were blurred, much more jagged than what expectation would allow.

The pearly drops slid down her ivory face, pale with only a tinge of red from crying. Her chin quivered along with her bloodied lips, chewed up from being bitten down on to muffle the sobs. Sobs that were now silenced, heard by only Him.

It hurt so much to be alone; yet that was all she had ever known. Even after six years of having others around that truly cared about her and sought to see her smile, she couldn't fathom or grasp the concept that she wasn't walking a lonely road any longer.

She tried to get close, but fear of hurting others and being hurt herself had drawn her into a shell of self preservation.

Her life was pointless; meaningless. She had nothing to life for when it came herself, she solely lived for others, and despite the fact no one understood her or accepted her – imperfections and all, she could only offer comfort and sacrifice to others.

Never to herself.

She had known no love other than the small shards of light that managed to break their way through the dark walls of her bleeding heart. It was so easy to fall apart completely, it was so much easier to run from the past and the pain.

She felt the vibrations of the phone on her leg for the tenth time that night. She refused to pick it up, to answer the calls of her other half. The half of her that was light, that was purity and deserved all the happiness in the world. The only way a smile could come to her lips was whenever her other half was smiling, laughing, and feeling elusive joy.

"Stop calling…just stop calling!" she sobbed, hunching over, her small fists hitting her thighs.

"Ani, open up, please…"

She heard the knocking on her locked door.

"Go away!"

She didn't want them to see.

See her broken and having fallen to pieces yet again.

She couldn't let them see it again. It was just so hard to face the pity in their eyes. She never wanted to see it again. She just wanted to be forgotten. She had already taken herself out of the picture, so why should she have to keep being forced back into a world that could never accept her and hated her?

Hiding away, safe from the world's taunting and the cruelities of society, she was content.

Content in loneliness…

Her phone rang again.

She grabbed it, throwing it against the wall. It opened, and she could hear the voice on the other end, begging her to please talk to her, let her inside and let her help.

_No one can help me… Not my parents, not my sister, not my friends, not even myself… not God, no one…_

"Don't turn away…"

"Go away!"

"I can't, I just can't!"

"Just leave me alone! I don't want this! I'd rather be alone! I am alone!"

"You are not alone!"

She jerked her head up, tears slipping from swirling eyes. Eyes as strange as her, unaccepted by society with the right being a stunning green, and the left being blue. Her dark makeup had smeared around them, making them intensify, practically glow against ivory skin. She brought her baggy sleeved covered hand to her face, wiping the tears off her cheek as she finally scooted off the bed, reaching down and shutting the phone, ending her other half's desperate cries.

The short, russet strands fell around her face diagonally, bangs falling into her face and shielding it as she went to shove her bookcase in front of the door of her small bedroom, confining herself inside.

"Ani!"

"That's not my name!"

"Anne, please!"

"Go away, Max!"

All that she was living for, all that she was dying for, all that she couldn't ignore was on the other side of that door and the other end of that phone.

_Find the words to make me better… I need help… please; I don't know how to pull myself together! Somebody, help! I'm sick of hearing the whispers, sick of no one but Him hearing me screaming! He never does anything to make the pain cease, He lets the devil toil with me and take away everything!_

Her feet stepped across the broken glass of the crystal vase, the black flower petals brushing against her bloody feet as she crawled back onto the bed, hunching into a fetal position and crying again. Her eyes clenched as she heard the noises outside her window.

Her palms clamped over her ears, russet strands entangling around the bony fingers as she blocked out the sounds, her body shaking.

She felt nothing, only numb.

Then, she felt warmth.

Her green eye opened, peering through dishelved locks just as fair and warm hands brushed up her side and cupped her face, rolling her over and pulling her against his chest. He said no words, simply wrapped his arms around her, the night air blowing the black curtains wildly. Her arms snaked around his waist, her small hands making fists and shaking before uncoiling and clutching the soft material of his shirt as her tears sunk through it.

"You are not alone, Ani…"

"M-Max…"

"Ren and I are here, and so is He… you are not alone, no matter how alone you think you are. You don't have to keep fighting so strongly… you can step down, take a break… we're here to hold you up when you can't stand…"

"Max…Max…"

His lips pressed against the crown of her head, then moved down, brushing against her forehead, the tip of her nose, her tearstained flushed cheeks, and finally against her full lips.

In one instant all the pain and the sadness was washed away. Her lips responded to the warmth, to the way he held her protectively in his arms, to how they were pressed together intimately, almost as if they were one.

She couldn't breathe but she felt good enough.

For once, she felt good enough for him to love her too.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"You are not alone… neither are you tainted, or broken, or darkness… you are sweet, and kind, and selfless…"

She completely lost herself and she didn't mind.

"You are my sweet Ani… my sweet, sweet girl from Eastern Kentucky who isn't like everyone else. You're perfect – flaws and all – and you're all I ever wanted…"

"Max…"

She was still waiting for the rain to fall, pouring life down her.

The words were draining from her pencil, lying on the side of the bed. Words of an end, sweet words that she wanted to give him. She could never sleep without telling him goodnight.

"Your eyes are so blue… I can't look away…" she whispered as they laid in the stillness.

When they were together, she felt perfect. When they were pulled away from one another, she fell apart.

All that he said was sacred to her.

He whispered to her, "Ani… marry me. Promise you'll stay with me."

"You don't have to ask me. You know you're all that I live for… you know I'd die just to hold you, stay with you… somehow I'll show you that you are my night sky, I've always been right behind you and now I'll always be right beside you…"

He pressed his lips to her forehead again, "Then step out into the rain with me… let it wash away the pain, once and for all. Let me heal those bruises that run so deep."

She paused, dual-colored orbs meeting his blue – as dark and beautiful as the ocean and as celestial as the night sky – for a long moment.

Now that he loved her, she loved herself.

"Why do you love me?"

"Because… you're you."

He sat up, holding out his hand, smiling as fair locks fell into his eyes and around his freckled face that was sunshine and sculpted by angels.

Trembling, her hand reached out. He helped her off the bed, her bare feet stepping across the black cascaded petals and broken shards. Leading her out the door, down the hall, never letting go even for a second.

Then…

She stepped into the purity of rain and was cleansed.

Once and for all.

"I am not alone."


End file.
